Fun Openings for Black

I recently came across a video by Eric Rosen showing off two basic openings for Black. Those openings being the King's Indian Defense and the Sicilian Dragon. The one I enjoyed a lot was the King's Indian Defense against d4 in this opening, if your opponent plays e4 you play the Sicilian Dragon.

King's Indian Defense

It's better to play the King's Indian Defense against d4, one of the main reasons for this is because if white plays e4 after you play Nf6 white can just go e5, the same thing will happen if you play g6, Nf6. So, you only play the King's Indian Defense when white plays d4, after playing Nf6 if white plays e4 you simply go d6 to prevent e5.

The normal line for the King's Indian Defense is Nf6, g6, Bg7, O-O

Here's a game where Miguel Najdorf plays the King's Indian Defense against Mark Taimanov in 1953

Sicilian Dragon

If White plays e4 it's better to start with the Sicilian Dragon than the King's Indian Defense for the same reason I listed above, the Sicilian Dragon starts off with c5 after white plays e4. Usually white will play Nf3 then black plays d6, white plays d4, black plays c5xd4 white will then play Nf3xd4. Black will then play Nf6, g6, Bg7, O-O.

The normal line for the Sicilian Dragon is c5, d6, c5xd4, Nf6, g6, Bg7, O-O.

Here's a game where Veselin Topalov plays a Sicilian Dragon against Garry Kasparov in 1995

TL;DR

The Sicilian Dragon and King's Indian Defense are very popular and easy to learn openings for Black.

Thanks for reading my article, this is the first one I've ever written feel free to give me some feedback in the comments!

Thanks,

Carson